I got this softcover at Barnes and Noble. The cover-art made me think of the talented but troubled protagonist of Black Butler, another young boy with a horrific background that has changed his life.

In this story, set in the late 19th century in England, a young boy named Ruwanda has been kept in the basement all his life - by his own mother, whose motives become suspect as the story inserts little flashbacks about her. (Whether we can trust these recollections or not I can't say at this point.) The boy develops murderous traits early on - with, apparently, his mother's encouragement - but is not allowed to so much as touch her... Pretty grim, and this is only the beginning.

After strangers invade the home and kill (apparently) his mother, they rescue (?) the boy - only for him to find himself the new plaything of a pedophile. At this point his talent for homicide is actually something of a relief; if anyone deserved to be slaughtered it was that guy...

Ruwanda travels on, and finds himself being welcomed into an orphanage where a very caring man tries to look after the various lost children. But while he does his best to encourage Ruwanda to trust him, the boy's inner killer won't be silenced; things get very bad very quickly... The man's last words to the boy are that he still cares for him, but to no avail.

The next chapter has Ruwanda in a new town and a new household - where he finds a young girl whose tastes seem similar to his own, if not as extreme. Will he acquire an ally, and if so is that a good thing or a really, really horrible one?

Ruwanda meets more dangerous/cruel people and happily disposes of them - though he also happily disposes of benign people if they cross his path. By the end of this volume, he's encountered a group that values his particular talents quite highly: a group of assassins, whose abilities are such that he might find it challenging to take them down. Does this mean he'll join them? I suspect that he might, but only for as long as it suits him!

The artwork's good and the action (and violence) are... impressive, but for me this is just too relentlessly bleak. Not that I don't sometimes enjoy "bleak"; will see if I decide to check in on later volumes in the series to see if Ruwanda experiences any personal growth or just remains a soulless killing machine!

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this warm, windy day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

** Released for the 2023 4 Elements challenge. **